1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector of a type in which a terminal secured to an end of a wire is retained within a connector housing by using an elastic retaining piece, and in particular, to a connector which allows a terminal to be retained within a connector housing securely and to be drawn out easily.
2. Background
Conventionally, in order to connect wires to each other, a various connectors are used in which there is a connector designed to retain terminals within a housing by using elastic retaining pieces.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 4-102576 discloses a connector in which, as shown in FIG. 6, once a female terminal 3 is inserted into a terminal receptacle 2 in a connector housing 1, from right side as viewed in the drawing, the female terminal 3 is retained by an engagement between a retaining projection 5 of an elastic retaining piece 4 and retaining hole 6 of the female terminal 3 to prevent the female terminal from rearward withdrawal. Further, a spacer 7 is inserted into a space beneath the elastic retaining piece 4, the female terminal 3 is securely held within the connector housing 1 since the insertion of the spacer 7 prevents the lowering deflection of the elastic retaining piece 4 disengaging the retaining projection 5 and retaining hole 6.
Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 63-37085 discloses another connector in which, as shown in FIG. 7, once a female terminal 13 secured to a wire 14 is inserted into a terminal receptacle 12 in a connector housing 11, from right side as viewed in the drawing, the female terminal 13 is retained within the connector housing 11 through an engagement with an elastic retaining pieces 15. Once a spacer 16 is mounted to an opening in the connector housing 11 from left side as viewed in the drawing, an elastic engaging piece 17 provided on the spacer 16 engages the female terminal 13, thus the female terminal 13 is retained by double engagement.
Furthermore, if the engagement between the terminal 13 and the elastic retaining piece 15 is insufficient, as shown in the bottom half in FIG. 7, the female terminal 13 is forced out to the right side in the drawing by the elastic engaging piece 17 of the spacer 16 when the spacer 16 is mounted to the connector housing 11. This provides a simple recognition of unengagement of the female terminal 13.
However, the connector, shown in FIG. 6, encounters a problem that the deformation of the elastic retaining piece 4 is small, and the spacer 7 can be inserted even if the space beneath the elastic retaining piece 4 is smaller than a predetermined gap, which allows the insertion of the spacer 7 under an insufficient engagement between the female terminal 3 and the elastic retaining piece 4, therefore the connector cannot provide a reliable recognition of unengagement of the female terminal 3 by the elastic retaining piece 4. Further, in order to draw the female terminal 3 from the terminal receptacle 2, an ejector tool must be inserted into the connector housing 1 through the terminal insertion hole to deform the elastic retaining piece 4 downwardly. However, there is another problem that the ejecting work of the female terminal 3 is not easy since the insertion of the ejector tool is difficult and the leading portion of the elastic retaining piece 4 can be easily broken.
On the other hand, the connector, shown in FIG. 7, encounters a problem that the ejecting work of the female terminal 13 is difficult because of the double engagement of the female terminal 13. That is, in order to draw the female terminal 13 from the connector housing 11, an ejector tool, not shown, must be inserted in the terminal receptacle 12 through a mating terminal insertion hole, provided on left side in drawing, to disengage the female terminal 13 from the elastic retaining piece 15 and the elastic engaging piece 17, which may results in a possible damage on the female terminal 13 due to a scratch by the ejector tool inserted through the mating terminal insertion hole.